


i'm overcome in this war of hearts

by bugabisous (mariafernanda)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bad Decisions, Cheating, F/M, Secret Relationship, terrible horrible awful people for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:21:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25099828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariafernanda/pseuds/bugabisous
Summary: Adrien knew three things for certain: He would love Ladybug until the end of his days, he would take anything she could give him, and he was a terrible person.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 15
Kudos: 227





	i'm overcome in this war of hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maketea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maketea/gifts).
  * Inspired by [places of infidelity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094038) by [maketea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maketea/pseuds/maketea). 



> Well, well. Here I am with something I didn't exactly think I would write but, I blame Alizeh for it.  
> I read her fic and I just... got so inspired. And she didn't exactly discourage me from writing it so, here I am whooops.  
> Alizeh, I love you so much and your brilliant mind. Hope you like it! Also, sorry I stole your tags whooops.
> 
> Title is from the song War of hearts by Ruelle.

Marinette was an awful, wickedly horrible person. She knew it, and she had no excuse for the way her lips found a home in Chat Noir’s jaw, or for the way her hands clung to his back.

She had no excuse for the way her mind screamed she belonged in his arms, even knowing that he wasn’t hers to keep, even knowing she couldn’t be his, knowing they couldn’t possibly keep this up for much longer. She had to end it, she told herself - but the thing was that she didn’t know what it was exactly what she needed to end.

Her affair, some would say - _affair_ , what an awful word, despicable like her - was the obvious answer. But how do you kill a feeling? And the truth, the terrible truth she hid in between her passionate kisses with Chat and her perfunctory pecks with Luka, was that she didn’t want to end things with Chat because he was the one she had feelings for. She didn’t want to put a stop to her stolen moments with him. Not now, not ever. Why would she let go of something, of _someone_ , that made her feel alive? Maybe it was sick and twisted, but the biggest part of her was way past caring about the morality of the situation. 

At one point, she started needing Chat as more than just her superhero partner and started wanting him in ways she had no idea a person could be wanted. Being with him, kissing him, felt like taking a deep breath after being under cold water for hours - like being suddenly cocooned in a warm blanket after having been outside in the middle of the most unforgiving winter, like the comforting heat of chocolate sliding down your throat after a snow fight.

And the truth that hurt the most, even more than the realization that she was a bad person for being careless with Luka’s heart, was the fact that despite all that time Chat waited for her love, he wasn’t fully hers now that he had it. She couldn’t tell him that he had all of her love, because he was in a relationship with someone. 

Maybe she didn’t know how to kill a feeling, but she knew everything about how feelings could feel like a gentle killing with each wayward touch.

.

.

Adrien knew three things for certain: He would love Ladybug until the end of his days, he would take anything she could give him, and he was a terrible person.

The worst part was that he never felt as sorry as he should be feeling, not when Ladybug was kissing him and holding on tight to him, or when she lied her head down on his shoulder and then started nuzzling his neck with her nose, or when she let him kiss her hand or sighed into his mouth or when she asked him for a massage because her back hurt. The guilt was never there when he was around her because, as awful as it sounded, when he was around her the world disappeared.

It was after, in the solitude of his room, with Plagg switching between glaring at him or ignoring him entirely, that he felt the weight of his bad decisions bring him down to earth from the home he had built in the clouds when Ladybug caressed his hair or whispered _“I’ve missed you,”_ softly into his ear.

He had made the decision to break it off with Kagami a hundred times over - but when he saw her in person she always seemed so happy to see him that he couldn’t handle the thought of making her angry or, even worse still, sad. And yes, maybe he was a coward on top of being a bad person, and maybe he was only brave about his feelings for Ladybug, but he had long since accepted that.

.

.

He was so lost in the feeling of her in his arms that he almost missed the question she murmured against his chest. _Do you love her?_

He pulled away to look at her, trying to understand where all of this was coming from, but she averted her eyes.

“Is it too awful of me if I say no?” he replied, feeling how acid pooled in his stomach, “I care about her, she’s one of my closest friends but I…” 

He dropped a kiss to her forehead, and brought her back into his arms so she couldn’t see his face when he said, “I love you, I have never loved another,” because he didn’t want to see the pity in her gaze, that telltale sign that, regardless of what was happening between them, she still didn’t love him like that. He would enjoy this embrace, knowing it could very well be the last time she let him hold her like a lover would. 

He wasn’t ready for her soft gasp, for her grip to tighten as she pulled him closer, before she moved to kiss him deeply. There was nothing sweeter than the way her lips moved against his, a perfect crime of passion, the illusion of love bottled up in a moment. He would give up anything to be able to feel it every day of his life.

“Break up with her,” she said when they parted. He must have looked as startled as he felt, because she rushed out to say, “Be with me instead.”

As cliché as it sounded, he felt as if he was floating in a dream. 

“What?” he said, sounding pathetically breathless.

“Let’s be together, for real,” she replied, blushing madly, “I am tired of pretending that I don’t want to be with you.”

And in that moment, with her blue eyes looking straight into the depths of his soul, he found the bravery he had been missing for weeks now, and said, “Okay. Let’s be together instead,” before he kissed her again.

.

.

In the end, ending things with Luka had felt like a much needed relief. She wasn’t exactly exempt from being awful just because she finally took the leap to end it, but at least she was taking the necessary steps to maybe be better in the future.

It was never easy to tell your significant other that you were breaking things up because you’ve been cheating on them, she imagined, but she was sure that the fact that she couldn’t tell him who it was with didn’t exactly help the situation.

“Is it Adrien?” he had asked, a bitter laugh escaping him. The idea seemed absurd to her for a moment, because Adrien was dating Kagami and he categorically didn’t like her _like that_ \- before she remembered that Luka couldn’t possibly be able to guess that the boy she was leaving him for was _Chat Noir_ _of all people_. After all, everyone knew that he and Ladybug had been in a relationship for months now - if the kisses and rooftop dates were anything to go by, of course. 

“I can’t tell you who it is,” she said simply, figuring Luka would come to realize it wasn’t Adrien eventually, and she wouldn’t have to come up with an elaborate lie to avoid giving away her secrets.

“That’s a funny way of saying yes,” he spat, taking his guitar and leaving her alone on the bench she was sitting on.

She wished she felt something other than relief, but she had recently made the decision of being a bit more honest with herself - since she was the only person she could be fully honest with - and she couldn’t bring herself to pretend that this ending didn’t actually feel like a new beginning.

“Are you going to go back to talking to me now?” she whispered, looking at the little kwami hiding in her purse.

“Oh, Marinette,” Tikki replied, “I just wanted you to be true to yourself,” she said smiling sadly, “I never meant to make you feel as if I was angry with you.”

“But you were, a little,” she raised her eyebrow. 

Tikki huffed, “Okay, yes. But only a little, you’re still the best.”

.

.

The last thing Adrien expected to hear after pouring his heart out to Kagami was, “You know, me and Luka talk sometimes.”

“I know,” he replied, “but what does that have to do with anything?”

“If you guys didn’t want us to know the truth, then maybe you should have come up with different excuses,” she said, her tone accusatory. 

As he stood there, feeling the whole weight of Kagami’s death stare, he felt as if he was four years old again and being dropped by a stoic Gorilla into a pool without a life vest - confused and trying to stay afloat in unfamiliar territory, but ultimately safe knowing that if he didn’t manage by himself, someone would help him out.

“What?”

“Marinette and Luka broke up yesterday,” she said, as if it explained everything - which it clearly didn’t, and he must have looked at her like the idiot he most certainly was, because she rolled her eyes and added, “her reasons for breaking up were suspiciously similar to the ones you just spewed out, Adrien.”

“Why would Luka tell you why they broke up?” he asked, confused.

The disbelief was rolling off Kagami in waves as she nearly screamed, “Because she cheated on him _with you!_ ”

“What!? No!”

“There’s no use pretending, Adrien, the timeline fits too well,” she said, her voice taking on a tired quality, as if she was suddenly exhausted of the conversation or, maybe, of him, “ the day the whole thing started, the fact that she and the mysterious boy took the decision to end things with their partners to be together two days ago, the fact that she has been _in love with you_ for years! Everything fits!”

“I… What?” he mumbled. Kagami just rolled her eyes and walked away, clearly taking his confusion as confirmation that what she was saying was true, leaving him standing in the middle of the locker room like an idiot, his heart pounding as he looked around the truth - not daring to look directly at the revelation he had accidentally been given.

.

.

She was sitting with her back against the chimney, playing with her yoyo, when he arrived at their agreed meeting place that night. She turned to look at him, a quiet uncertainty on her gaze when it found his eyes that hit him like lightning to the chest with its familiarity. 

“My lady,” he bowed, offering her his hand to help her stand up - not that she needed it. She took it, though, like she had been doing all the time lately - they had been awfully good at finding every single excuse under the sun to touch more, ever since things between them started.

“Hey, Chat,” she said after giving him a quick, almost hesitant kiss on the lips, “did you…?”

“Yes,” he answered, not even letting her finish the question, “you’re now the proud and _only_ owner of this black cat.”

She giggled, booping him in the nose before pulling him in for a hug, “I’m a lucky girl, then.”

“The luckiest, some people would say,” he murmured against her temple as he caressed her back, “I am, of course, one of these people.”

“You know what?” she moved to look him in the eyes before bringing her hand to his cheek, cupping it as her thumb made light strokes against his skin, “I am actually inclined to agree.”

Looking at her, with her blue eyes and her windswept hair, with her face alight in a smile and a light pink adorning her cheeks, he decided that perhaps, _just this once_ , being a bad person had come heavily rewarded.

And, like the fool in love he was, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “I love you, Marinette,” enjoying the sight of her rapidly widening eyes before he leaned down and kissed her - and it tasted like the truth.

“I love you too, Adrien,” she replied, quiet into the silence of the night once they finally parted for air.


End file.
